Inconvenient Truth About Prop 8 Opposition
Tom Hanks called the Mormons "un-American" for opposing California’s Proposition 8 which "constitutionalized" the definition of marriage being one man and one woman. So now, to the Left, changing the state Constitution via the proper process is un-American, but judges who unconstitutionally legislate from the bench are patriots. Upside, meet down.
But here’s an interesting observation that LaShawn Barber made, and that I’d like to highlight on Martin Luther King Day. There’s another constituency that voted overwhelmingly for Prop 8 that the Left hasn’t marched against.
Why were they focusing on Mormons, when 70 percent of black voters in the state voted YES on Prop 8? Curious, but not complicated. I made the observation, as did Thomas Sowell, that white homosexuals hadn’t dared and would not have dared “march” to black churches and harass black churchgoers, although it would have made more sense for them to head down to Watts or Compton or up to Oakland and express their disappointment. Can you imagine such a scenario? I’d pay good money to see that.
Now I’m wondering the same about actor Tom Hanks. Singling out Mormons for voting to protect traditional marriage, Hanks called them “un-American.” An overwhelming majority of blacks supported the measure. I suppose the same applies to them, yes? Perhaps Hanks is waiting until MLK’s birthday on Monday or Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday to make his pronouncement. What do you think? I’d pay good money to hear that.
Save your money, LaShawn. You and I both that that ain’t gonna’ happen. It’s a dirty little secret of the Left (generally) that it’s still OK to bash the religious.
What’s actually un-American, in my opinion, is this mashup of Google maps and public information to point out the addresses and locations of people who donated to the Prop 8 cause. Legal? Sure. Petty, vindictive, inflammatory and McCarthy-ist? Oh yeah, you got that right. And sure enough, McCarthy was looking for folks who were un-American, too! Scott Payne over at The Moderate Voice notes a bit of disingenuousness on the part of same-sex marriage advocates.
I’ve thought for a long time that the African-American community has, in general, been a very conservative group, but have been sold a bill of goods by internal leaders to look to government to save them rather than themselves. I think if they took an issues test showing which party or politician fits their values most, a lot of them would be surprised. Bill Cosby has been a huge factor in getting the word out, not so much politically, but in the sense of taking ownership of one’s own situation and not waiting for someone else to fix it. That shouldn’t be a left/right thing, but far too often the measure from the Left of how well things are going tracks with how many people are on welfare and how much money they’re getting. Government dependency was most decidedly not MLK’s dream.
Filed under: Doug • Homosexuality • Race Issues
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Tom Hanks is an …. My Christian nature prohibits me from typing that last word.
“What’s actually un-American, in my opinion, is this mashup of Google maps and public information to point out the addresses and locations of people who donated to the Prop 8 cause.”
Ditto that this is reprehensible conduct. Neither side should do that stuff.
Great post. You make excellent points. It seems that the left only advocates tolerance towards people who agree with their ideology. Tom Hanks is apparently very confused about the constitutional process, and that there were many people who voted in favor or Proposition 8. It was un-American of Hanks to make those comments.
Yes, well his outrage is, to say the least, selective.
There’s a huge difference between members of a congregation voting one way, and the leaders of the congregation organizing politically to push votes one way.
The first is protected, civic action. The second is an illegal marriage of church and state. Surely it’s fair to call out those who use illegal marriages (of church and state) to make marriage illegal.
And that’s wholly apart from the fact that the Latter-day Saints would not exist had laws on marriage been so tight from 1837 through 1890. There’s a tinge of hypocrisy that may manifest only when one knows history. That’s not a good reason to promote ignorance.
An established church is one where government officials are required to pledge allegiance to the official religion of the country. The founding fathers rejected this idea, hence the first amendment. A church urging its members to vote a certain way is most certainly not anything at all like that.
You may be thinking of a 20th century provision regarding 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. The cannot campaign for a specific politician but they can do some lobbying work to influence legislation. Whether or not the Mormon Church violated this is a question for the courts, but I find it ironic that you appeal to history to take a jab at the church when you get your own historical foundation for your claims of illegality so wrong.